Swaging machine

ABSTRACT

The machine serves for a continuous swaging of elongated workpieces moving along a predetermined path and comprises a machine housing surrounding said path, a plurality of hammers which are similar to connecting rods and mounted in said housing, a plurality of eccentrics, each of which is operatively connected to one of said hammers and rotatable to impart to said hammers a reciprocating motion toward and away from said path in a direction which is radial to said path, and an oscillating motion, and a plurality of slide bearings associated with respective ones of said hammers and permitting of said reciprocating and oscillating motions of said hammers relative to said housing. Each of said slide bearings comprises a sliding member forming a bearing shell, guide means mounted in said housing and adapted to guide said sliding member in its longitudinal direction toward and away from said path, and a bearing member which is rigid with the associated hammer and has a curved bearing surface extending in and in bearing contact with said bearing shell to permit of said oscillating motion of said hammer relative to said sliding member.

United States Patent 11 1 Kralowetz et al.

[ Mar. 18, 1975 SWAGING MACHINE [75] Inventors: Bruno Kralowetz;Gottfried Blaimschein, both of Steyr, Austria [73] Assignee: GFMGesellschaft fur Fertigungstechnik und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft,Steyr, Austria 221 Filed: Dec. 28, 1973 21 Appl. 110.; 429,687

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 10, 1973 Austria 175/73 [52]US. Cl 72/402, 308/72, 72/406, 72/189 [51] Int. Cl B2ld 43/02, 8213'7/14, B2lj 7/20 [58] Field of Search 72/189, 402, 403, 406, 72/407, 408,452, 373376; 308/2 R, 72

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,562,643 7/1951 Saxer72/402 2,932,197 4/1960 Appel 72/402 3,596,497 8/1971 Kralowetz etal.... 72/402 3,670,556 6/1972 Kralowetz 72/402 3,690,!42 9/1972Blaimschein 72/406 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 435,241 9 1935UnitedKingdom 308/72 Primary Examiner-C. W. Lanham Assistant ExaminerD.M. Gurley [57] ABSTRACT The machine serves for a continuous swaging ofelongated workpieces moving along a predetermined path and comprises amachine housing surrounding said path, a plurality of hammers which aresimilar to connecting rods and mounted in said housing, a plurality ofeccentrics, each of which is operatively connected to one of saidhammers and rotatable to impart to said hammers a reciprocating motiontoward and away from said path in a direction which is radial to saidpath, and an oscillating motion, and a plurality of slide bearingsassociated with respective ones of said hammers and permitting of saidreciprocating and oscillating motions of said hammers relative to saidhousing. Each of said slide bearings comprises a sliding member forminga bearing shell, guide means mounted in said housing and adapted toguide said sliding member in its longitudinal direction toward and awayfrom said .path, and a bearing member which is rigid with the associatedhammer and has a curved bearing surface extending in and in bearingcontact with said bearing shell to permit of said oscillating motion ofsaid hammer relative to said sliding member.

5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures 3,871,223 SHEET 1 [IF 2 PATENTED HART 8197 1SWAGING MACHINE This invention relates to a swaging machine for acontinuous swaging of continuous elongated or rodshaped workpieces withhammers which are similar to connecting rods, driven by eccentricsandguided in slide bearings and which in addition to the radial swagingmotion toward and away from the workpiece perform an oscillating motion.

The hammers of such swaging machine are used not only for the actualwork of deformation but also to feed the workpiece. For this reason,they perform an oscillating motion, which is superimposed on the linearreciprocating motion and which in eccentric-driven machines is mostfavorably obtained in that each hammer forms the spider of an ellipticchuck, in which a link which is mounted on the eccentric shaft isslidable to perform a reciprocating movement transversely to the bearingbushing or the like of the machine housing and axis of the hammers andsaid link is positively connected to the spider by meshing helicalteeth. In such an arrangement, a rotation of the eccentric shaft doesnot only impart to the hammer an up-and-down motion but owing to themeshing helical teeth also an oscillating motion. A slide bearing forthe hammer is secured to the housing and ensures that the axis aboutwhich the hammer oscillates extends through the axis of the workpieceand the hammer as a result of its oscillation advances the workpiece tobe swaged.

In these swaging machines, the slide bearings for the hammers similar toconnecting rods are very important because they must permit not only ofa linear reciprocating motion but also of a pivotal movement of thehammer stem guided by them. Such bearings have previously been providedwith a bearing member having a spherical bearing surface, which rests ina bearing shell which is firmly inserted in the machine housing. Thereciprocating hammer stem slides in a central bore of the bearing memberand because the latter is rotatable the hammer stem can perform anoscillating motion relative to the bearing shell although saidoscillating motion can be performed only about the center of thebearing. This results in the serious disadvantage that the radius of theoscillating motion continually changes as a result of the up-and-downmotion so that it is not sufficient to provide the'link of the ellipticchuck with plain cylindrical guiding surfaces but the link must bedivided to compensate the movement of the center of oscillation relativeto the hammer. It will be understood that such link is much morecomplicated and more expensive in manufacture than an integral link andconsiderably adds to the expenditure of the entire machine.

Another disadvantage of the previously used slide bearings is due to thefact that they can be sealed only with difficulty because therequirement for several freedoms of movement of the bearing involvessealing problems which have not yet been satisfactory solved.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate these disadvantages and toprovide a swaging machine which is of the kind defined firsthereinbefore and provided with slide bearings which permit of the use ofelliptic chucks having a link which is as simple as possible and whichbearings can be sufficiently sealed without difficulty and without aparticularly high expenditure.

This object is essentially accomplished according to the invention inthat each slide bearing comprises a sliding member, which islongitudinally slidable in a which forms a bearing shell, which receivesa cylindrical or spherical bearing member, which is rigidly connected tothe hammer. Owing to the design of this sliding member the-two movementsare separated from each other and are respectively guided by the pivotbearing formed by the bearing member and the sliding member, and by thelinear guide bearing formed by the sliding member and the bearingbushing. Instead of a single bearing for guiding both motions of thehammer, separate bearings are provided for the respective motions. Thisresults in the advantage that the center of the oscillating motionalways has a fixed relation to the hammer so that the link of theelliptic chuck need no longer be divided. The division of the slidebearing also enables aksolution to the sealing problem because thelinear guide bearing and the pivot bearing can be sealed independentlyof each other.

An advantageous possibility of providing a good seal of the bearing isafforded by the invention by the provision of a bellows seal between thesliding member and the hammer and of an annular seal between the slidingmember and the machine housing.

An embodiment of the invention is shown by way of example on theaccompanying drawing, in which FIGS. 1 and 2 are sectional views showingpart of a swaging machine and respectively taken on line I I of FIG. 2and line IIII of FIG. 1.

A machine housing 1 contains hammers 2, which are .similar to connectingrods and extendradially to the axis of the workpiece and are driven byeccentric shafts 3 which are parallel to the axis of the workpiece Theeccentric shafts 3 are eccentrically mounted in adjusting housings 4,which are rotatable to change the distance from the axes of theeccentric shafts to the axis of the workpiece so that the strokeposition of the ham mer is changed. Each hammer 2 constitutes the spider5 of an elliptic chuck. This spider is provided with cylindrical guidingsurfaces 6, 7. In this spider, links 9 carried by an eccentric 8 areslidable along cylindrical guiding surfaces 6, 7. The spider 5 and thelink 9 of the elliptic chuck have meshing helical teeth 10. Each hammer2 has a guide extension 11, which cooperates with a rail 12, which isfixed to the housing. Spacing rings 19 are provided to prevent ayielding of the link 9 in the direction of the axis of the eccentric 8.As aresult of a rotation of the eccentric shaft 3, the eccentric 8reciprocates the link 9 in the spider 5 so that the hammer 2 isreciprocated toward and away from the workpiece and, owing to thehelical teeth connecting the link. and the spider and the fact that thehammer is guided by the rail 12, the hammer is caused to oscillate in aplane which is defined by the axis of the workpiece and the axis of therail 12. A slide bearing is required which permits the hammer to performthese combined linear and oscillating motions. According to theinvention this slide bearing comprises a bearing bushing 13, which isinserted in the machine housing 1 and in which a sliding member 14 islongitudinally slidable. The sliding member 14 forms a bearing shell 15,which receives a spherical surface of a bearing member 16, which isrigidly connected to the hammer 2. A bellows seal 17 is provided betweenthe sliding member 14 and the hammer 2. An annular seal 18 is providedbetween the sliding member and the machine housing 1. The bearing memberand the sliding member constitute a pivot bearing for the hammer. Thesliding member and the bearing bushing forma linear guide bearing. It isappar ent that there is a separate bearing for each of the twomotions'of the hammers so that each bearing can be sealed in a simplemanner. The main advantage afforded by the separation of the bearingsresides in the design of the bearing member which is fixed to the hammerand together with the sliding member constitutes the pivot bearing. Thisensures that the distance between the center of the oscillating motionof the hammer and the cylindrical guiding surfaces of the spider andlink of the elliptic chuck remains constant so that a simple integrallink will be sufficient.

What is claimed is:

l. A swaging machine for a continuous swaging of elongated workpiecesmoving along a predetermined path, which comprises a machine housingsurrounding said path,

a plurality of hammers, which are similar to connecting rods and mountedin said housing,

a plurality of eccentrics, each of which is operatively connected to oneof said hammers and rotatable to impart to said hammers a reciprocatingmotion toward and away from said path in a direction which is radial tosaid path, and an oscillating motion, and

a plurality of slide bearings associated with respective ones of saidhammers and permitting of said reciprocating and oscillating motions ofsaid hammers relative to said housing, each of said slide bearingscomprising a sliding member forming a bearing shell,

guide means mounted in said housing and adapted to guide said slidingmember in its longitudinal direction toward and away from said path, anda bearing member which is rigid with the associated hammer and has acurved bearing surface extending in and in bearing contact with saidbearing shell to permit of said oscillating motion of said hammerrelative to said sliding member. 2. A swaging machine as set forth inclaim 1, in which 5 each of said guide means comprises a bearing bushingin which said sliding member is guided in its longitudinaldirection.

3. A swaging machine as set forth'in claim 1, inwhich saidcurved surfaceis spherical. 4

4. A swaging machine as set forth in claim 1, which comprises aplurality of bellows seals, each of which is disposed between thesliding member of one of said bearings and the hammer associatedtherewith, and a plurality of annular seals, each of which is disposedbetween one of said sliding members and said housmg. 5. A swagingmachine as set forth in claim 1, in which each of said hammersconstitutes a spider of an elliptic chuck, each ofsaid eccentrics isnon-rotatably connected to an eccentric shaft, which extends parallel tosaid path, each of said elliptic chucks comprises an integral linkmember, which is mounted on one ofsaid eccentric shafts andlongitudinally slidable along the same,

and the link and spider of each of said elliptic chucks have meshinghelical teeth, whereby upon a rotation of said eccentric shafts saideccentrics impart to said hammers said reciprocating motion and saidlinks and meshing teeth impart to said hammers said-oscillating motion.

1. A swaging machine for a continuous swaging of elongated workpiecesmoving along a predetermined path, which comprises a machine housingsurrounding said path, a plurality of hammers, which are similar toconnecting rods and mounted in said housing, a plurality of eccentrics,each of which is operatively connected to one of said hammers androtatable to impart to said hammers a reciprocating motion toward andaway from said path in a direction which is radial to said path, and anoscillating motion, and a plurality of slide bearings associated withrespective ones of said hammers and permitting of said reciprocating andoscillating motions of said hammers relative to said housing, each ofsaid slide bearings comprising a sliding member forming a bearing shell,guide means mounted in said housing and adapted to guide said slidingmember in its longitudinal direction toward and away from said path, anda bearing member which is rigid with the associated hammer and has acurved bearing surface extending in and in bearing contact with saidbearing shell to permit of said oscillating motion of said hammerrelative to said sliding member.
 2. A swaging machine as set forth inclaim 1, in which each of said guide means comprises a bearing bushingin which said sliding member is guided in its longitudinal direction. 3.A swaging machine as set forth in claim 1, in which said curved surfaceis spherical.
 4. A swaging machine as set forth in claim 1, whichcomprises a plurality of bellows seals, each of which is disposedbetween the sliding member of one of said bearings and the hammerassociated therewith, and a plurality of annular seals, each of which isdisposed between one of said sliding members and said housing.
 5. Aswaging machine as set forth in claim 1, in which each of said hammersconstitutes a spider of an elliptic chuck, each of said eccentrics isnon-rotatably connected to an eccentric shaft, which extends parallel tosaid path, each of said elliptic chucks comprises an integral linkmember, which is mounted on one of said eccentric shafts andlongitudinally slidable along the same, and the link and spider of eachof said elliptic chucks have meshing helical teeth, whereby upon arotation of said eccentric shafts said eccentrics impart to said hammerssaid reciprocating motion and said links and meshing teeth impart tosaid hammers said oscillating motion.